GAIL to set up petrochemical plant in Kerala

New Delhi, Apr 25: State-owned Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) has drawn up plans to set up two petrochemical plants, a Rs 7,000 crore unit in Kochi in Kerala and a Rs 5,200 crore unit in Lepetkata in Assam.

While the Kochi plant would be wholly owned by GAIL, the Lepetkata plant would see 70 per cent equity participation from the gas authority. The rest would be divided between Oil India Ltd (OIL), Numaligarh Refineries Ltd and the Assam government, official sources told UNI.

The Assam plant has been given cabinet approval and it would take five years to start production. It will have a capacity to produce 2,80,000 tonnes per annum (tpa).

The Kochi plant, which would have a capacity to produce four lakh tpa, would be operational in seven years, the sources said.

GAIL has meanwhile urged the Petroleum Ministry to extend the selection of location of Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemcial Investment Regions (PCPIR) to Kochi and Lepetkata also.

''I would request that the basis of selection of location be extended to the proposed petrochemical projects. In this regard, the names of Kochi(Kerala) and Lepetkata (Assam) may kindly be included, where GAIL is considering setting up of petrochemical units,'' GAIL Chairman Proshanto Banerji said in a recent letter to the Petroleum Ministry.

At present, the selection of locations for PCPIR is based on existing and proposed locations of refineries only.

GAIL is in the process of capitalising on the growing demand of petrochemicals in the country and abroad, and is planning for a major push in capacity expansion of its petrochemical facilities.

For the Assam plant, the gas will be supplied by OIL and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). Naphtha would be sourced from the Numaligarh Refinery.

The Kochi plant, an integrated grassroots unit, would be an ethane-propane (C2-C3) based petrochemical complex that will produce 600,000 tpa of ethylene and 100,000 tpa of propylene. The feedstock for this plant will be imported LNG, which will be re-gasified at the terminal of Petronet LNG Ltd at Kochi.

UNI